Raising Butterflies (Egg to Caterpillars)
Friday, July 18, 2008 at 01:03PM 
For a couple of weeks Jane and I have been raising butterflies to study their life cycle and release them. We ordered eggs, caterpillars, and some adults from a breeder who overnighted them to us. We ordered two different species of butterflies, Monarchs and Eastern Black Swallowtails.
Monarchs have a life cycle of 6 weeks: 4 days as an egg, 2 weeks as a caterpillar, 10 days as chrysalis, and the remaining 2 weeks as an adult. The lifespan of the Black swallowtail is similar: 6 days as an egg, 10-14 days as a caterpillar, 8-12 days as a chrysalis and the remaining 2 weeks as an adult. It has been so cool watching them grow up. They have been our little children. In this picture is a Monarch caterpillar (left) and a Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillar(right). Notice the different color patterns between the two species.
Monarchs lay their eggs on the underside of the milkweed leaf. The eggs are so small that even if you looked for them you might not see them unless you knew exactly what you were looking for. 
Monarch adults lay their eggs on milkweed because that is the food that the caterpillars eat and when the caterpillars hatch they don’t have to leave the plant. The caterpillars eat their shell and then they start on the leaves of the milkweed. Milkweed is poisonous to predatory birds but not to the Monarch caterpillars. If you see a milkweed leaf with the edges eaten off chances are you will find a caterpillar. When the caterpillars first hatch it amazing how small the caterpillars are. They literally look like a little piece of string. They are probably thinner than a toothpick!
Caterpillars only do two things- they eat and poop, a lot. As they eat they grow bigger and need new skin so they molt (shed their skin) and depending on the species they sometimes change colors after molting. The Monarch caterpillars pretty much stay the same color. They are a bright yellow-green color with white stripes.
The Eastern Black Swallowtails lay their eggs on parsley, dill, and Queen Anne ’s Lace (which is a very beautiful plant and easy to pick out). We are feeding our Black Swallowtails parsley because Jane grows it on her deck so it is easy for us to get and we have lots of it. The Black Swallowtail caterpillars start out being brown with a white stripe. After the first few times they molt they turn orange and white. As they get even bigger and molt more they are bright orange, white, and black.
Every day Jane and I give them a new bunch of milkweed and parsley. It is practically gone by the next day. As the caterpillars get bigger, they eat a lot more. At first we were keeping the caterpillars in critter cages but as they got bigger we decided to make a little caterpillar habitat for them. The habitat is actually a big netted cage and we made the inside of it look like nature. Caterpillars need to hang from something when they make their chrysalises so we put a little ladder and a branch in there for them. Jane and I bought plant vials to stick the milkweed in so it would stay fresh for them. We used foam boards to stick the vials in and have the milkweed standing upright because that’s what it is like in nature. The Black Swallowtails aren’t quite big enough to have their own house yet so we are still keeping them in a critter cage but soon we will have to move them over because they too, will be ready to make their chrysalises. They need to be hanging when they make their chrysalises.
I love watching the caterpillars grow and comparing the different sizes. It is such a fun project and not many people get the chance to do it. However anyone can. You can go out looking for the eggs yourself, now that you know where to find them. Or you can find a breeder and buy some, like Jane and I did. It is amazing experience and something I think anyone can enjoy, no matter what age.
Reader Comments (3)
but butterflies are cool especially since all they do is eat and poop. hahahaha.
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